Set for September 25-26, 2021 is the latest Who’s Number One event, a production set up by the grappling streaming platform, FloGrappling.
Although widely recognized as one of Flo’s most successful products, this particular WNO will feature a novel setup. For the first time, the event will be laid out under a tournament format with five weight divisions (three male, two female) and 5 hefty cash prizes for the championship’s winners. Below is a short description of what to expect from each division and a line-up of the competitors on the card. The event will be broadcasted on the FloGrappling website.
Lightweight Division (155 lbs):
A very interesting division considering the majority of the athletes here traditionally compete in lower weight classes. There will be, however, two regular faces of the lightweight division on the card, namely Cole Abate and Damien Anderson. Both Abate and Anderson are the least ranked competitors on the card (blue belt and purple belt respectively).
Although Anderson and Abate could very well cause an upset with their size and skillset, favoritism, on paper, will be on Musumeci and Ruotolo’s side, considering what they offer talent-wise and the fact that both are most familiar with the WNO ruleset. Adding to these factors, the fact that Kade and Mikey are also the most active no-gi competitors here and you have a recipe for a good result.
LINE-UP:
Gabriel Sousa (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 97-24-0
Streak: WWWWL
Diego “Pato” Oliveira (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 49-6-0
Streak: WWLWW
Mikey Musumeci (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 48-4-0
Streak: WWWWW
Kade Ruotolo (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 6-2-0
Streak: WLWWL
Josh Cisneros (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 19-6-0
Streak: WLWLL
Damien Anderson
Pro Record (W-L-D): n/a
Streak: n/a
Geo Martinez (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 35-16-7
Streak: LDDDW
Cole Abate (n/a)
Pro Record (W-L-D): n/a
Streak: n/a
Middleweight Division (185 lbs):
Lots of new blood on this division with two brown belts and three black belts with less than 12 months of experience. These men will be going head to head against the 3 veterans in the venue, namely former ADCC contenders Jon Blank and Dante Leon, as well as 2019 No-Gi Worlds Champion Johnny Tama.
This is, arguably, the most even division on the men’s side of the event with no clear-cut favorite as of yet (brackets have not been released at this point). We trust much of the dynamics of this division will fall on how the brackets are laid out.
LINE-UP:
Micael “Mica” Galvão (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 8-2-0
Streak: WWWWL
William Tackett (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 31-9-0
Streak: LLLWL
Tye Ruotolo(click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 9-6-0
Streak: WLWWL
Jacob Couch
Pro Record (W-L-D): n/a
Streak: n/a
Roberto Jimenez (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 35-14-3
Streak: WDDWD
Jon Blank (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 10-7-2
Streak: WWLDD
Dante Leon (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 81-35-0
Streak: LWWWW
Johnny Tama (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 75-54-0
Streak: WWWWL
Heavyweight Division (no weight limit):
This will be Kaynan Duarte’s division to lose as he is coming in as the “hands-down” favorite, with Kyle Boehm being the wild card.
Kaynan Duarte (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 100-13-0
Streak: WWWWW
Haisam Rida (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 33-14-1
Streak: WWWWW
Aaron “Tex” Johnson (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 83-66-1
Streak: LWLWL
Mason Fowler (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 13-2-0
Streak: WWLWW
Tim Spriggs (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 63.32-0
Streak: LWLLL
Kyle Boehm (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 16-3-0
Streak: LWWWW
Luiz Panza (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 67-33-2
Streak: WWLLL
Orlando Sanchez (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 13-6-0
Streak: WWLWL
Strawweight Division (115 lbs):
Lots of fun match-ups on offer here, this is, we feel, the most interesting division on the card from a competitive stance.
Mayssa has pretty much dominated the division over the past 3 years. On paper, she should be the favorite, but paper doesn’t always tell the full story. Amanda Alequin is a huge talent and a former middleweight with a wealth of experience, who has come down in weight to challenge Bastos. She is a big dark horse here. Another interesting challenger is 10th Planet’s Grace Gundrum. Grace ran undefeated for years while climbing the colored belt ranks, but recently stumbled across Mayssa as a black belt. Bastos took the W by a razor-thin margin and we expect Grace to want to run that one back. A very tough challenge for everyone on the card is the Pennysilvania native.
Mayssa Bastos (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 61-7-0
Streak: WWWWL
Grace Gundrum (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 2-1-0
Streak: WLW
Jessa Khan (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 6-5-0
Streak: WWLLL
Danielle Kelly
Pro Record (W-L-D): n/a
Streak: n/a
Amanda “Tubby” Alequin (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): n/a
Streak: n/a
Tammi Musumeci (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): n/a
Streak: n/a
Jessie Crane
Pro Record (W-L-D): n/a
Streak: n/a
Alex Nguyen
Pro Record (W-L-D): n/a
Streak: n/a
Heavyweight Division (no limit):
Much like in the men’s heavyweight division, this weight class has one clear favorite, Gabi Garcia. Gabrielle has reigned supreme for quite some time and it is hard to envision anyone beating the 4x ADCC and 6x IBJJF World Champion. Nevertheless, everything is possible on the mats, and the card has a few interesting submission hunters on deck.
Gabrielle “Gabi” Garcia (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 70-6-0
Streak: WWWWL
Elisabeth Clay (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 20-6-0
Streak: WLLWL
Ana Carolina Vieira (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): n/a
Streak: n/a
Rafaela Guedes (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 15-2-0
Streak: WWWWL
Erin Harpe (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): 2-0-0
Streak: WW
Amanda Leve (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): black belt debut
Streak: black belt debut
Amanda Loewen
Pro Record (W-L-D): n/a
Streak: n/a
Kendall Reusing (click for bio)
Pro Record (W-L-D): n/a
Streak: n/a
